About DVFREE
Through Shine’s DVFREE policy advice, trainings, and DVFREE Tick Programme, we have supported hundreds of employers – businesses, government agencies, crown entities and not-for-profit organisations of all sizes – to create or update their policies and procedures, successfully train key staff, and inform and raise domestic violence awareness for all staff.
DVFREE partner organisations are helping to create a culture shift in NZ so that people who hear about, or see domestic violence are equipped and prepared to offer help and support. So it becomes easier and safer for people experiencing domestic violence to access the support they need and ultimately so that fewer people perpetrate domestic violence.
DVFREE™ is provided by Shine (Safer Homes in New Zealand Everyday). Shine created the DVFREE programme in 2001 to improve workplace responses to domestic violence after years of hearing good and bad client stories about how an employer either supported, or undermined their safety and wellbeing.
In 2017 Shine created the DVFREE Tick employer accreditation programme to recognise and partner with employers who implement and sustain a best practice workplace response.
Recently DVFREE has added trainings to support organisations to improve their response to customers who are experiencing domestic violence.
Please contact us today to find out more about how we can help your workplace improve its response to workers, or customers, experiencing domestic violence.
About Shine
Founded in 1990, Shine provides a range of effective, practical specialist domestic violence services, that all focus on improving safety for adults and children who experience domestic violence. Some of these services offer direct support and advocacy for adults and children, including our national Helpline and other Auckland-based frontline services. We also motivate and support people who perpetrate domestic violence to change through our No Excuses programme in Auckland.
Shine also offers services, including DVFREE, that help other organisations, professionals, and community members to respond safely and effectively to people who experience and who perpetrate domestic violence, and that aim to prevent domestic violence.
Shine training programmes range from brief awareness-raising sessions to an intensive two-day training, and our six-day internal training for staff and volunteers, as well as training delivered through our DVFREE™ programme and our Shine in School programme. Shine supports NZ District Health Boards and accredits their trainers to deliver training to DHB staff on family violence and child abuse intervention.
Most Shine trainers have significant clinical experience in working with victims and/or people who use violence directly. Shine’s training consistently receives positive feedback from participants.
Our DVFREE Team
Margaret Fitzgibbon
DVFREE Programme Leader
Margaret Fitzgibbon has been a DVFREE Coordinator and Senior Trainer for Shine since June 2019. Margaret has over 20 years of experience working in not-for-profit organisations as a trainer and coach for adult learners. Her various roles have involved the building of capacity of families; programme management and community development, and community consultation and integration. Throughout these roles she has worked directly with families experiencing domestic violence, and has recognized that education is a vital part of a multi-faceted community approach to create violence-free communities. Previously, Margaret worked for HIPPY (Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters) for 17 years, most recently as a Manager for Great Potentials Foundation/HIPPY NZ, training, supporting and advising 41 HIPPY Site Coordinators throughout New Zealand. During this time she developed a comprehensive training package for HIPPY NZ and completed a Graduate Diploma in Higher Education.
Mira Taitz
SENIOR TRAINER
Mira Taitz has been a Senior Trainer for DVFREE and Shine since August 2021. She is an experienced community worker and adult educator. Prior to joining Shine, she was chairperson of Te Wāhi Wāhine o Tamaki Mākaurau, Auckland Women’s Centre, which has had a close association with Shine for many years. She was Chairperson for four years and previously served on their board for three years. She also worked as a community educator for YouthLaw Aotearoa for four years, where she led a community outreach and training programme on human rights with over 4,000 participants annually. She developed bicultural practice and commitment at Morningside Playcentre, which was commended by ERO. She has worked as a tutor at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Auckland, in social science research to improve people’s experiences in the justice system at universities in Sydney, and as an ESL English teacher. Mira has a Masters in Economic Anthropology.
Dr Rachel Williamson
SENIOR Trainer
Dr Rachel Williamson is a Senior DVFREE Trainer, based in Christchurch/Ōtautahi. In 2005, she volunteered with Shine as an advocate for victims of domestic violence referred by local police and Auckland Hospital. She then became a Shine employee, working with advocates to produce research reports and other resources for Shine clients and external audiences. Since then, she has worked as an English and Media Studies teacher in a number of secondary schools and an external examiner for NCEA. She has also been a tutor, guest-lecturer, and marker at tertiary level. Rachel holds a postgraduate diploma in secondary teaching, a Masters degree in English and Women's Studies, and a PhD in Cultural Studies. She has published her research in academic journals and peer-reviewed book collections, and also presented at international conferences. Her research is interdisciplinary in nature, focusing on the intersections between representation and embodied lived experiences, particularly in relation to women's experiences.
Claire Southward
DVFREE senior trainer
Claire Southward is a DVFREE Senior Trainer based in Wellington since March 2022. She has also worked part time as a Violence Intervention Programme (VIP) Coordinator for the Hutt Valley District Health Board (DHB) since 2017, training and supporting health professionals to recognise and respond to intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect. Claire is a Registered Social Worker and has worked across a range of acute hospital wards for the last 17 years. During this time, she has supported many women who have experienced violence from a partner and, together with other agencies, enabled them to find out more about their options and plan towards increasing their safety. Claire has a Masters Applied degree in Social Work (2001) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Health Sciences (Violence Prevention, 2020).
Fiona Moore
SENIOR Trainer
Senior Family Violence Educator Fiona Moore is originally from Yorkshire in the Northwest of England. She brings to DVFREE and Shine Respond over 25 years of experience of working in social services, family violence support, education and advocacy for individuals, their families/whānau and their communities.
Fiona’s mahi has encompassed the globe, supporting an in-depth experience of working with diverse cultures and complex needs often in challenging environments. Fiona is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion. Her approach is holistic and her own practice framework is therapeutic, response based and mana informed.
The last decade has seen Fiona in leadership roles in both Te Tapui Atawhai - Auckland City Mission and Women’s Refuge, where she has led a wide range of initiatives to support best practice including development of organisational responses to family violence and in-service education and development for social service professionals.